Lower spec and price make sense for this accessory. €100 =yes please! 1mpx is fine for most uses.

Pablo

Hmmm. Funny marketing behavior from Oly. They bring out more and more cheap and technologically inferior stuff, instead of challenging their competition on the quality and performance level… Btw. the way it looks, you will have no way to direct the light from the flash towards the ceiling, as is possible with the homemade ping-pong ball difuser, bouncer paired with the tiny NEX flash… So Oly is making its way down to the P&S level (with awful direct flash pictures), instead of aiming upwards… Less possibilities, lower technology, sad… Some time ago, I used to see the potential of this system, however now, it makes only steps backwards…

Jack

And Nex has a potential as a full system? I may listen when Sony come out with a proper Superwide zoom and anything other then oversized lens on unbalanced body.

Seriously, if you want a proper Sony, get a proper Alpha, I like their camera. Can you stop bitching about on M43 forums. Guys, I just can’t resist feeding this troll, lol

Oh you are right. I am such a silly little girl I am. I all the time talk about Nex because Nex is so small and cute but has such big sensor! And to be honest I am just so jealous of Olympus owners! I wish I had both Nex and Olympus! Silly I am!

i partly agree, i think its less usefull for lenses like the noktor/nokton/noctilux when used wideopen, as you want to use the 10x magnify for the critical focus. I experienced lesser results when using 7x magnifying. So prob the 900k pixel vf would be better suited for “normal” apertures when doin mf.

It never crossed my mind that those viewfinders would count dots instead of pixels :( Is that really true what he’s saying?

cL

Sigma is already playing this game. Foveon sensor is only 4 megapixels…. The 12MP of SD1 is actually 4 megapixel by conventional definition. That said, it’s still a good 4 megapixel, so the quality of pixel is still something to consider.

M

Yes. Divide there resolution by 3. Same thing with displays on back of the cameras.

Brod1er

Ho ho!! You are so quick to jump to conclusions and criticise! Not a failure if it enables people to afford a VF who couldn’t previously. Saves upgrading the whole camera or switching to a system with zero/nil high quality lenses! It will probably still be better than many cheap DSLR VFs.

GreyOwl

Plus one.

Esa Tuunanen

640×480 viewfinders were available already seven years ago!
Question would be different if we were talking about analog film roll “containers” but this about digital technology so getting over that limit after this many years shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Or do you also ask to get half dozen years old parts when buying computer?

Thomas

Just having any EVF in sunlight is better than looking at back screen (which you can’t see). The first one was too expensive.

st3v4nt

If this new VF not compatible with EPL-1, why then Oly discontinue EPL-2 but keep selling EPL-1?…it’s also funny to notice that EP-3, EPL-3 and EPM-1 all can use BLS-1 and BLS-5 batt, but EPL-2 can only use BLS-5 while EPL-1 can use BLS-1 and BLS-5 as well….and yet the Pen Pal being the most uneeded accessories introduce first with EPL-2.

Andi

Hope they are going to release it soon(but I do not think so, cause they did not mention it in most manuals)…But if it is “ok” and cheap, the probability that I buy a Pen instead of a Pana is rising..(From Zero to x:D)

Bob B.

I don’t understand why Olympus would make a less expensive, lower resolution EVF and not design it with a smaller form factor? I am sure both units perform well…so the function part is there…but damn are they ugly.

yes..I had that thought….if Oly used the exact same housing as the first finder they are saving lots of money in development…but …you have to admit…they also missed a great opportunity to downsize it and create a VF that flows with the camera design.

om-4

Oly could try doing a foldable/collapsable VF ala Polaroid SX70.

Bob B.

I find that the tech. low rez. LVF I have on my GF1 to be kind of cool looking (albeit “simple”) and more than adequate for my needs…it has not spoiled a photo for me yet…Too bad Oly didn’t make this second VF..somewhere in between the Panny and the firs Oly in resolution and size…THAT would have been a winner!

Michael Meissner

Well in terms of form factor, it needs to be the same width because of the sizes of the accessory port and hot-shoe haven’t changed. And it needs to be the same height because people’s eyes are the same size as before. If you make it smaller, you eliminate potential customers who just can’t see a smaller screen.

Do

They could have done a non-tiltable version with a smaller form factor, of course not as an replacement, but as as an addition to the tiltable one.

Don Pope

There’s plenty of excess to cut off the VF-2, staring with the hinge. The actual glass element in the viewfinder is rather small. Theoretically, that’s as tall as you would have to make it.

manmachine

pixel =/= dot (subpixel)

VF2 has not 1.44 Mpixel. It has 480K pixel and 1.44 Mdots.

Panasonic G1/GH1 LCOS EVF has 480K pixel and have not dots, only its RGB-TFT equivalent is 1,44 Mdots.

om-4

The sideknob does look like it has a micport or is it an AF-assistlamp?

Chris K.

sideknob is for diopter adjustment

Personally I’ll stick with my E-VF2.

Flash is useless to me, even with my E-PL1 I used my flash like 5 times the year+ I’ve owned it.

What I would find exciting would be a kickstarter project or something to mold a smaller case for the E-VF2 that skips the annoying and mostly useless hinge and would add a positive lock to prevent the E-VF2 from getting knocked off accidentally.

Hopefully they’ll come out with a pro-sumer viewfinder to go with the E-P3, the VF3 will disappoint…

So that’s Olympus’s answer to the 3mpx Sony evf ;)
Frankly I don’t understand why their evf costs so much while panasonic has the same specs evf on only twice more expensive g3 body,
I’m sure they can sell the evf for 150$ witought any loss, and introduce a 3mpx evf for premium 290$
Besides panasonics external lower spec evf didn’t sell well anyway

Does that mean you disagree with what i wrote? if yes i’d be happy to hear why
and i’m also writing on sonyrumors, and criticizing NEX’s lens selection all the time, so everyone are getting their share ;)

cL

It’s okay to do some criticism, as long as it’s constructive criticism. :-) Personal attack improves nothing, while constructive criticism provoke thinking and innovation. :-)

If the purpose of art is to provoke thinking. Does that mean criticism is a form of art? ;-)

Considering how good is E-P3 screen, I dont think EVF is necessary. Though I really dont get why they didnt include tilt-swivel screen (preferably in Sony style of A77). Ages ago we used big waist level screens, when you have tiltable LCD, its pretty much same (only needs bit more resolution still, but 60D is close to that).

cL

I also like original G1’s EVF. It’s very nice to look at, but like all EVF (and LCD), it doesn’t work too well in dark places.

LCD and EVF, to me, are different things. They have different purposes. Ideally, we should have two, and better still, a hybrid viewfinder plus OLED LiveView… (obviously, a swivel screen. Tilt screen is okay, but swivel screen is better by two folds ;-)).

It’s ironical Nikon moved to real swivel screen with D5100, but Olympus downgraded into a tilt screen…. How much cost did they save?

Herb

I had no idea these small EVFs existed until yesterday. I have been in the market for either the Zacuto EVF of the SmallHD DP4.

Does anyone think it is possible to adapt one of these for external use with other cameras?
What kind of connector is that “accessory” port? Is power included through the port, or is it the hot shoe providing the power?

Thomas S

Voila, this is the new attachable zooming hybrid viewfinder (that’s why there is a window) that will turn your E-P2 into an X100. At $100,- it will come at a bargain! ;-)

AmandaNL

Why don’t they drop the price for the VF-2 and make a high-end viewfinder instead?
Olympus have some strange thoughts….

I still don’t see a value proposition for people like me from Olympus. I want the PEN form factor but I am not really happy with the size and the form factor of the VF-2 sitting on top of a PEN. Something the size and quality of the Panasonic viewfinder on top a PEN would have been a much better solution for me than something basically as useless as that new viewfinder.

If the E-P3 was already available for sale in the US, I would get one. The next time I’m willing to buy something new, will be in January. By then, Panasonic will have released a new MFT camera that may have a viewfinder integrated while following the PEN form factor. Olympus, you need to also address people like me!

shep

“If the E-P3 was already available for sale in the US, I would get one.”
Check it out, Tobias–it is!

Miroslav

If this flash on VF-3 doesn’t support SuperFP ( and it surely won’t ), then it’s as useless as the built-in one, useful to E-P2, PL3 and PM1 owners.

If the specs of VF-3 do not hide some more interesting stuff, then it’s a bad move for Oly.

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Pronunciation: \ˈrü-mər\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English rumour, from Anglo-French, from Latin rumor clamor, gossip; akin to Old English rēon to lament, Sanskrit rauti he roars

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